Tag: theater

Legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim dies aged 91

  Legendary Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim, widely credited with revolutionizing American musical theater, died Friday at the age of 91. Rick Miramontez, the publicist for the ongoing Broadway production of Sondheim’s musical “Company,” confirmed to AFP that the musical theater titan had passed away. Sondheim’s attorney F. Richard Pappas said Sondheim — known for works including “West Side Story” and “Sweeney Todd” — died suddenly in his Roxbury, Connecticut home the day after celebrating Thanksgiving […]

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Webber’s musical masterpiece “Phantom of the Opera” streams free for a limited time amid virus lockdown

  (Eagle News) – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical masterpiece “Phantom of the Opera” as staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2011 can now be viewed for free at “The Shows Must Go On” Youtube channel for a limited time. Amid the coronavirus pandemic that had shut down musical theaters worldwide, including the Majestic Theater in New York where the musical had been suspended since March 12, this gives a chance for everyone to […]

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US playwright, ‘king of comedy’ Neil Simon dead at 91

  by Jennie Matthew / with Issam Ahmed in Washington © Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP)–Neil Simon, the prolific and Pulitzer Prize-winning US playwright celebrated as the king of comedy who won more Oscar and Tony nominations combined than any other showbiz writer, died on Sunday. He was 91. The brains behind more than 30 plays, 20 screenplays and five musicals, Time magazine dubbed him the “patron saint of laughter.” Many of his […]

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Three die in Argentine theater collapse

BUENOS, Aires (AFP) — Three people were killed and two injured when a near century-old theater building in Argentina collapsed while undergoing renovation work, police said Thursday. The historic building in the northern city of San Miguel de Tucuman collapsed around 8:00 pm (2300 GMT) on Wednesday with heavy traffic in the street outside. Police first reported one man had been killed but revised the toll after discovering in the rubble two more bodies, those […]

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Heart rate study tests emotional impact of Shakespeare

by Rosie Scammell Agence France Presse STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, United Kingdom (AFP) — In a world where on-screen violence has become commonplace, Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company is turning to science to discover whether the playwright can still make our hearts race more than 400 years on. The renowned theater company has started measuring the pulse of audience members as they are confronted by some of the most harrowing scenes ever written by Shakespeare in the Roman tragedy […]

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‘Miss Saigon’ returns to its original home on Broadway

NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — “Miss Saigon” returns to its original home at The Broadway Theater in New York City after two years in London. The long-running musical, which debuted in 1991 and ran for nearly a decade, is a tragic love story set during the Vietnam War. “Miss Saigon” star Jon Jon Briones said the play’s themes are still current today. “When this first opened, it was, the Vietnam War was kind of, […]

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